Indyfan82, no offense, but I'm guessing you're a kid, or at least a young adult. Feel free to like them all.

But fans who grew up on the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones generally think the SW prequels and KOTCS sucked. Those who were kids when the prequels came out tend to think they're pretty awesome. Or rad. Or da' bomb...or something like that.

As for which is worse...it's sort of like comparing rotten apples to moldy oranges. I'd say the prequels were the bigger disappointment, because people were so excited about them and had such high expectations. Big let down. Knowing KOTCS was about an alien skull, I pretty much knew going in it wasn't going to be great. Expectations were much lower. That said, they met and exceeded my low expectations, and I left thinking, "Wow, that was even worse than I thought it would be."

However, at least KOTCS retained Harrison Ford in the lead role as the main character (albeit a creaky main character).

Slightly more in-depth answer: However flawed KOTCS was, it certainly had better dialogue, acting, story and overall faithfulness to the original movies than the prequels comparatively were. That, and KOTCS had Spielberg's expert directorial touch, which automatically makes it better than any of the prequels which suffered from Lucas' clumsy one.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is waaaaaaaay better than both Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

Revenge of the Sith v.s. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a little tougher to judge. I'll admit I may have had a little more fun watching Revenge of the Sith than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but that was because Revenge of the Sith relied heavier on "fan-rewards" with Sith ending on the classic sunset shot(with the classic Williams theme), so basically, when you finish watching ROTS, all it really succeeds in is making you enthusiastic over the original Star Wars(or "A New Hope" as the young people call it). Kingdom, while also relying on fan moments(like the Ark scene) at least tried something new with the franchise, pushed the story into new directions, and was for the most part its own movie.

Still, they ultimately all suffer the same big flaw in that they fail to quite live up to the magic and wonder of the originals. No matter how well made future installments are, I fear that pleasing the majority of people at this point is near impossible.

I'm 37 and I enjoyed watching The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull both at the cinema (day of release and in some cases midnight showings of the first screening) and I had such a damn enthralling time watching all four films and loving every moment.

I thought the Prequels only began to feel like they belonged in the Star Wars universe towards the end of ROTS.

And the best bits of KOTCS were up until the end of the Doom Town sequence. Might as well sleep through the rest.

I thought the story of KOTCS was awful and the characters with the exception of Indy were really bad. Mac, Ox, Mutt, Marion were terrible in the last half of the film. It was a mess. I watch the film and I can't believe they didn't stop to think that the last half is a total cluster**** and the ending made no sense with a pointless macguffin. Did they really wait so long to make that.

I much prefer to watch the SW prequels over KOTCS depite all of the flaws that trilogy had. I can't think of a bigger film disappointment for me than KOTCS.

I thought the story of KOTCS was awful and the characters with the exception of Indy were really bad. Mac, Ox, Mutt, Marion were terrible in the last half of the film. It was a mess. I watch the film and I can't believe they didn't stop to think that the last half is a total cluster**** and the ending made no sense with a pointless macguffin. Did they really wait so long to make that.

I much prefer to watch the SW prequels over KOTCS depite all of the flaws that trilogy had. I can't think of a bigger film disappointment for me than KOTCS.

In the cold light of day KOTCS, compared to the original trilogy, is a big steaming turd lying in the middle of Indy's driveway preventing him from getting his car out.

The Prequel Trilogy is three steaming turds in a row that will have to be carefully avoided while making our way towards SW #7. Just hope no one picks it up on their shoes because that stink isn't going to be overcome with domestic-use air freshener.

But don't get me wrong I would love to see an IJ5 make amends for KOTCS. Equally I'm really looking forward to SW 7/8/9 and I am hopeful that they can see where they went wrong with big chunks of the prequel films and also look at what made the originals so good and then do a good job of the new ones.

As bad as the prequels were, it still feels as if more effort went into making them. I don't like a lot of the decisions George made, but I can see the ambition is there.
KOTCS, on the other, kind of feels as if George and Steven were just goofing around and having a fun trip down memory lane, without really being too concerned about the end result.

As bad as the prequels were, it still feels as if more effort went into making them. I don't like a lot of the decisions George made, but I can see the ambition is there.
KOTCS, on the other, kind of feels as if George and Steven were just goofing around and having a fun trip down memory lane, without really being too concerned about the end result.

As fast as they burn it, we can rebuild it by asserting our own version of the canon. Lucasian aberrations post-1989 may simply be dismissed as poor fan fiction.

Based on the eloquent statements above, I have a feeling you fall into the demographic these films were meant to appeal to in the first place. It's therefore unsurprising that you liked them. That said, I hated them all equally. Cheers.

Based on the eloquent statements above, I have a feeling you fall into the demographic these films were meant to appeal to in the first place. It's therefore unsurprising that you liked them. That said, I hated them all equally. Cheers.

Not sure what that means...

Well, I'm young, that's true, and I like SW prequels and KOTSC, but that doesn't necessarily mean I have a bad taste in cinema.

While the prequels are somewhat flawed, I enjoy them as entertainment. They're enjoyable and fun and genius in some areas, where KOTCS was just forgettable. As much as I was in denial for years, my first impression of KOTCS was I guess the true one: I walked out of that theater feeling like I had went to a funeral (and the atmosphere of my theater experience was much the same way - when the film ended, everyone silently and solemnly just proceeded out; no clapping that I can recall). The prequels may not be perfect but I don't find any of them bad or terrible. There's missed opportunities sure. But I enjoy them more as good sci-fi films, separate from the original trilogy. KOTCS is just...meh.

I've come to believe that the worst thing any work of art can be is mediocre and that's what KOTCS is in spades. The SW prequels may not be perfect but I don't think they can be called mediocre. You either love or hate them, it seems, but I don't see too many people with a sense of indifference toward them.

I can't make the comparison, because Star Wars never meant a whole lot to me. I liked it as a kid, but I was "over it" by the time Phantom Menace came out. I didn't see the rest of the prequels, and it wasn't because I particularly disliked Phantom Menace, I had just grown apathetic toward the franchise.

From my perspective the best counterpart to Crystal Skull is The Godfather Part III - an unnecessary sequel made by the same creative team after a gigantic hiatus that ultimately felt like a weak imitation. Like Crystal Skull, the third Godfather is an aggressively mediocre movie rather than an outright terrible one, but that somehow makes it worse. You don't disinter a beloved and completed saga fifteen years after the fact unless you've got the goods, or are at least taking a massive swing.

A mediocre film is always worse than a bad film. A bad film will be enjoyed on its own unique merits (see, The Room) whereas a mediocre film is just forgettable and that makes it somehow all the more contemptible. Especially when the mediocre film is in a family of generally great films, it sticks out like a sore thumb even more. If KOTCS had been an entry in the Mummy franchise, no one would care because those movies are poor man's Indy movies anyway. When the long-awaited, much desired and highly anticipated fourth Indiana Jones film is a poor man's Indy film, you have a problem.